Langfang: China’s cloud computing hub
Langfang, a small inland city in Hebei province, is emerging as an information technology services hub in northern China, with a large number of big data centres.
For years, this gritty industrial centre, lying about 50 km away from Beijing and 90 km from Tianjin, found it impossible to compete with these two modern metropolises.
But recently it has taken advantage of its location between them to develop high-end industries, such as data storage and cloud computing. Continue reading »
China’s recovery is “painfully slow”
Official figures released on Monday showed that China’s economy is not getting worse – industrial production rose a touch, as did retail sales. Fixed asset investment fell slightly, but stayed above 20 per cent year on year growth.
But those banking on a speedy bounce in Chinese growth are unlikely to take much comfort. Continue reading »
China exports: doing the rounds
China’s April trade data published this week highlighted a nagging question – are companies over-stating their exports to secure legal and illegal financial benefits?
Economists say exports are almost certainly being inflated, notably through the so-called “one-day tour” of goods through bonded export zones in Shenzhen, in southern China, and via the “round-tripping” of goods between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. What exactly is going on? Continue reading »
China: weak exports hit manufacturers
Chinese manufacturing growth saw a surprise slowdown in April, with the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) falling to 50.6 from March 50.9. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an increase to 51.0.
But, as the chart below shows, it’s not the small month-to-month changes of the past year that matter, but the failure of Beijing’s stimulus measures to give manufacturing a decent boost. With exports weak, industry is clearly struggling. Continue reading »
With global growth slowing again, the International Monetary Fund has revisited an old question – are Asia’s middle-income economies stuck in a middle-income trap?
The arguments predate the global financial crisis, but are given fresh urgency by the crisis-induced deceleration in growth. According to the IMF, there’s bad news and good news. The bad news is that some emerging Asian economies do indeed face significant risks of a “sustained slowdown”. But the good news is that they are less vulnerable than emerging economies in other parts of the world – and that given the right policy choices, they can try to avoid stagnation. Continue reading »
China stocks drop as PMI disappoints
Chinese stocks fell sharply on Tuesday on the publication of more evidence of an economic slow down.
This time it was was HSBC’s preliminary PMI index for April, which dropped from 51.6 to 50.5. That still leaves it in positive territory but in the current gloomy atmosphere financial investors are focusing on the negative – and finding it. Continue reading »
[video] China / US: a second ‘great rotation’?
There has been a lot of talk about the ‘great rotation’ from bonds to stocks but are we about to see one from east to west, from China to the US? Chris Watling of Longview Economics talks to the FT’s John Authers about green shoots in the US – and worries in China.
China loses out to US as top market for Japan’s exporters
A graphic illustration of the strength of the recent US recovery and of the slowdown in China came on Thursday with Japan’s trade figures.
In the fiscal year to March, exports to the US exceeded those to Japan for the first time since 2009. The figures were affected by an upsurge in anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese car-buyers. But they also show that there is still some energy left in the old motor that is the US economy, while the Chinese engine may need refueling. Continue reading »
Reforming China’s big beasts
Is China’s leadership about to heed calls to unleash competitive spirits among the state owned enterprises?
Analysts at BoA-Merrill have come up with a different view from most by answering this with a big ‘Yes’. Continue reading »
China’s shark’s fin soup slowdown
Pretty much everyone agrees that China’s Q1 growth figure was a miss. At 7.7 per cent, it sits below consensus (8 per cent) and down from the previous quarter (7.9 per cent).
As you’d expect, analysts have been scrambling to make sense of it all, with reasons given ranging from dead pigs to cold weather. But one thing keeps cropping up: the luxury crackdown. Continue reading »
China bird flu: business catches a cold
By Stefan Wagstyl in Hong Kong and Leslie Hook in Beijing
Chinese businesses from rural poultry farms to the luxury Shanghai Four Seasons hotel are beginning to feel the impact of a bird flu outbreak that has killed nine people.
Taobao Marketplace, the ecommerce platform of the Alibaba internet group, confirmed that as of Thursday it had banned online trading of live poultry in the Shanghai region. Continue reading »
China credit: still fuelling the machine
China isn’t holding back in its financial support for a flagging economy. The latest lending figures, published on Thursday, show banks made new local-currency loans totalling Rmb1.06tn ($171.2bn) last month – far more than forecast by analysts polled by Reuters and Bloomberg.
That puts Chinese lenders on target to lend Rmb9tn in new loans this year – well up on last year’s Rmb8.2bn. Continue reading »
[snap] China imports surge in March, generating trade deficit
China’s imports surged 14 per cent last month, far in excess of the 5 per cent increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
With exports rising 10 per cent the country recorded a monthly trade deficit of $884m, compared with February’s $15.3bn surplus and a forecast March surplus of around $15bn. Continue reading »
China inflation: no worries?
After what looked like a troubling surge in inflation in February, China’s CPI figure has dropped back sharply in March.
The February figure of 3.2 per cent had prompted a warning from central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan in March that China should be on “high alert” over rising inflation. In which case, the March data should settle the nerves. But does the low figure show a weaker-than-expected recovery? Continue reading »
China: manufacturers ‘restocking’
Hunting for signs of cyclical recovery in Chinese manufacturing? Look at inventories, says Standard Chartered Bank.
The bank’s economists have compared stocks of raw materials and finished goods in manufacturing companies and established that a big overhang of stock that accumulated in 2011 and 2012 is now falling – and that restocking is starting, albeit patchily. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Older entries
Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh